Very interest! Atari HD via cartridge port? can be using with all HD drivers ,or has special driversis bootable also ect..? how GB CF support? no extra power needed ?tell more..

Idea is not new. Paskud was the first cartridge port IDE IF for Atari ST.On site is some info, but I will write here, maybe in more understandable way :

Forget other HD drivers - only with special driver for it - there is no standard/specs for using cartridge port for mass storage, it is even not intended for writing data out, only for reading in.

Paskud has own driver SW, partitioner etc. too , just to add.

It is bootable in little different way than regular hard disks (ACSI/IDE) - autoboot is solved via SW in cartridge ROMs. It executes before regular disk booting, even before floppy boot. On all TOS versions. So, no need for TOS 2.06 when using IDE ( Benefit #1 )

No capacity limit - driver can handle disks up to 2048 GB (it is partition table limit in fact).So, any CF, even 32-64 GB will work, if you have money to buy it

No need for extra power supply, as cartridge port gets power from ST (Benefit #2 )

Benefit #3 : speed - much faster than Paskud, especially by write. See pic on site.In combination with Kobold 2 it is killer !

If understand.. it works like a large cartridge hardware emulator that you can intervene and change the files via CF.It remains interesting, but the not writable directly by Atari, is not good...at last..i think all your work,s is very good and benefit for Atari and users.

If understand.. it works like a large cartridge hardware emulator that you can intervene and change the files via CF.It remains interesting, but the not writable directly by Atari, is not good...at last..i think all your work,s is very good and benefit for Atari and users.

It is not cartridge emulator. It is full IDE compliant (supporting all IDE features) adapter/interface.I just mentioned that cartridge port is not intended for writes - but it means not that writing is impossible. I made long time ago EPROM programmer for cart. port. And writing is a must by such device, isn't ? Usually, writing is slower than reading, but in case of CATA it is very fast.".. but the not writable directly by Atari, is not good..." don't know why you talk about not writeable directly. Better is to say that Atari designed cart. port without writing support. Actually, CATA writes very directly via cart port, and it explains high speed. Because of easier usage (to avoid opening machine, solderings) there is demand to use cart port for diverse adapters, so CaTA is just one among many, who solved it. Examples: USB/serial port for cartridge. Digitizer , some audio stuff ...More info: usually, writing out is solved by using address lines as data. There is even some article on WEB, where it is explained in details. Fact that Atari did not support writing via cart. port means not that it is unreliable or whatever. And we know that many times third party developers surpassed original manufacturer. Remember ICD ?

P.S. I start new topic here, where will write some principles of mass storage, interfaces used for ..

Photos will be when PCB is manufactured. Then can assemble and shot. Prototype is not nice.

Something bothered me already when made first test version: writing is much faster than read. I knew that same principle as by writing is not possible by reading without some changes in Atari ST(E). This days I thinkered about. The solution is in fact pretty simple, and costs almost nothing. Need to cut 1 line in machine and solder 2 wires there, and lead them out. Those 2 wire ends connect to special connector on CATA and that's all plus work/material. If not using CATA must shortcut that 2 wire ends, of course - can be solved automatically with proper connector.

I plan this as option. So, only speed fanatics may go on with. For others it will work well, without opening machine. In driver config file will be set to use or not the extra reading speed.

This is reading speed via driver. Direct access speed should be around 2400 KB/sec. But so far no support in speed test program for it.

a very interesting ide interface. if one day you product the item for sell i will be interested in buying one for my falcon.

Unfortunately it works not really good on Falcon - because of different bus timings. Only read is good, writing not.Not to mention that you have already IDE IF with Falcon, so need only some cable and IDE-CF adapter to work with Compact Flash.